


Slouching towards Bethlehem (on the shoulders of a clown)

by CatKing_Catkin



Category: Dice Will Roll (Podcast)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Carrying, Character Study, Circus, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Escape, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Introspection, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Past Abuse, Protectiveness, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:28:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26110417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatKing_Catkin/pseuds/CatKing_Catkin
Summary: Mere hours after making their escape from Mistress Dusklight's Celestial Menagerie, the newly formed Wandering Three take some time to reflect on where they've come from and where they hope to be going.In the meantime, Volio gives Royari and Eriato a piggyback ride.
Relationships: Myron Stendhal & The Wandering Three, Volio Via & Eriato Bati & Royari San Sarnax
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8





	Slouching towards Bethlehem (on the shoulders of a clown)

**Author's Note:**

> I'm well aware that all of this will probably be proven non-canon, possibly as soon as next episode, but Ep 5 gave me some FEELS that I just had to get out in words. Fic writing just be like that sometimes.

“Hup! Behind you!”

And that was all the warning Royari got before she suddenly felt Volio bend down, reach down, and scoop her up onto his shoulders with worryingly little effort. They muffled a shriek of surprise, tightened their legs around his shoulders and threaded fingers through his hair on instinct. 

“There we go!” said the clown. “All comfy?” Royari opened his mouth to answer, but Volio was already carrying on. “Here, help me get Eriato up, too.”

“You’re very tall, Volio, but I don’t think you can fit two of us on your shoulders.”

“That’s why we’re going to fit her on _your_ shoulders, silly.”

Once again, Royari opened their mouth to protest - he was tired, she was sore, they were still _shaking_ traitorously - and then closed it. She was aching and exhausted, that much was undeniable. But from up here, Eriato looked even smaller. The poor dear had been having enough trouble keeping up since they’d felt safe enough to stop running. No reason only one of them should get to take a load off.

“Oh, very well,” he huffed, and reached down. “Come on up, darling.”

Eriato had been watching the entire exchange with her mouth slightly agape. She stared at the offered hand like she didn’t know what to do with it, or as if she were afraid it might bite. Fortunately, Volio ultimately didn’t give her a choice in the matter - he picked her up, too, got her in reach of Royari’s hand, and when it became clear that it was hold on or get dropped, she held on in the end after all. 

After that, it was a simple matter of some light acrobatics, stepping first onto Volio’s head and then into Royari’s cupped hands before she could swing a leg over their head and settle onto their shoulders as well. 

“Is this okay?” she asked hesitantly.

“Perfectly fine, dear,” he hastened to assure her. “You’re light as a feather.”

Volio, meanwhile, simply resumed walking. Royari supposed that was answer enough. 

And so things were silent for a while - just them and the night and the stars, just the sound of the wind and the sounds of their collective breathing slowly returning to something like an even keel. Eriato proved able to keep her balance well enough that she didn’t need to hold on to Royari that much for support, a fact which Royari was selfishly grateful for as he held tight to her ankles anyway. They knew their hair was no doubt a fright after the events of the night thus far, but it wasn’t as if they wanted to be reminded of that fact.

Meanwhile, it wasn’t as if Royari herself needed any additional help in balancing either, but as the three of them made their way along, she still found herself playing with Volio’s hair - running fretful fingers through it, twining strands together and apart, petting with no real aim or intention in mind besides enjoying the texture. Volio really did have _astonishingly_ fluffy hair, as it turned out - at least if you ignored the drying blood currently matting and staining large swathes of it. 

“No, but for real,” Eriato said, breaking the silence after they’d gone maybe another mile. “You’ll tell us if we start feeling too heavy, right, Volio? We can walk a little further on our own.”

Volio released one of Royari’s ankles for the sake of cupping a hand theatrically against his ear. “ _Was?_ I can’t hear you from all the way up there!”

Royari tweaked his other ear. “She means it and so do I. Don’t feel like you have to wear yourself out carrying us along, Volio. Tell us if you need to take a break.”

“We’ve gone pretty far already,” Eriato added. “I don’t think they’re following us anymore. We _could_ stop for a while…if we had to.”

She didn’t sound _entirely_ sure. Royari didn’t blame her. They didn’t think they’d feel entirely sure of their escape for a long while, either, probably not until the sun rose. 

“You both _are_ much heavier than you look,” Volio said easily, and giggled as Royari retaliated by tweaking his ear even harder. “But that is a-okay by me! I _like_ having you both being heavy on my shoulders. It is a good squish.”

“A…good squish?” asked Eriato cautiously. You never could be entirely sure what Volio was getting at, after all. 

Fortunately, just this once, Volio seemed happy to elaborate. “A _good_ clown is loose and springy! Flexible and fun! But I have been standing at attention for so long that I was starting to forget how to unwind. I could feel my bones getting all boney and stiff. No good. No good at all.”

“I’m pretty sure that bones are _supposed_ to be stiff, dear,” Royari mused. “That’s what makes them _bones_.”

Volio’s response was to chortle, and then Royari had just enough time to feel him bend his knees before _springing_ forward in a huge, bounding stride that left both she and Eriato yelping in shock and holding on to one another even tighter in anticipation of a fall—

—and yet, Volio landed light as a feather on the balls of his feet, kicked one leg out to the side as though shaking out a cramp, and then kept right on walking. 

“If you say so,” he said, innocently. There was a beat, and then - just before Royari could get her breath back to start berating him - he added: “But _I_ feel like having you both on my shoulders is squishing me back out of shape. Like turning grapes into jelly. It is nice.” They felt him squeeze their ankle with surprisingly gentleness. “Very nice. Soon I will be a clown again.”

“…well then,” Royari said, because really, what was there to say to that? It took him a second before he thought of something, which was: “Happy to help, I suppose.”

“But I mean, for what it’s worth,” Eriato added. “You’ve always been the best clown ever. As far as _I’m_ concerned.”

“Seconded,” said Royari.

“Thank you, thank you,” Volio said, inclining his head first one way and then the other but thankfully not _actually_ bowing. “I suppose we are in agreement, then!”

The three of them lapsed back into silence not long after that. Royari supposed that was fair enough, after the night they’d all had, but it unfortunately left him with nothing much to do but think back on the night they’d had.

She had a feeling that they’d be some of the last, if not _the_ last, of the performers to flee the Celestial Menagerie for the greener pastures of the Carnival of Wayward Wonders. The others who’d been involved in that plan had made their escape in drips and drabs, ones and twos. Individuals or duos could more easily slip past the guards and vanish into the night, and their absence could be more easily glossed over come morning - at least until _enough_ individuals or duos had pulled off that particular trick and even Mistress Dusklight in all her arrogance couldn’t ignore the exodus any longer. 

She and her lackeys had cracked down, after that, had tightened the leash around everyone’s necks in an attempt to keep anyone else from running off. Royari and Volio probably still could have escaped without issue, safe in the satisfaction of a job well done in ensuring that so many others had gotten the chance to go first, but Eriato…

…well. Eriato had spent years being bullied, being tormented, and it had left her uncertain and jumpy and scared. It had taken time they hadn’t _really_ been in a position to spare to convince her to run with them. Yet Royari felt very strongly that the effort had been worth it and knew that Volio felt the same. The girl wouldn’t have left otherwise. 

Two could have slipped away. Three had gotten caught, and it had turned into a fight. 

At least only some of the blood drying on their clothes was their own. 

At some point, Royari was pretty sure that their former co-workers had decided to keep chasing them down as a pretense at chasing them _out_ , rather than trying to drag them back. _You can’t quit, we fire you._ As if the three of them hadn’t had to fight tooth and nail to make sufficient nuisances of themselves to earn even that much of a chance. 

Dusklight was probably hoping that they’d die of their wounds in the woods before they could meet up with the others. Truth be told, considering the beating they’d taken, that _Volio especially_ had taken in Eriato’s defense, that wouldn’t be an _unreasonable_ thing to hope for. If they actually found the road from here, she’d consider it a minor miracle.

And yet, here Volio was, carrying them all through the field on the other side of those woods as if they weighed nothing at all. Here Eriato was, periodically shading her eyes to stare around in muted awe from her new vantage point.

Overall, Royari thought, they were doing surprisingly okay. The lot of them, these Wandering Three…maybe they’d make it to the other side and taste freedom after all. 

If they made it that far, he fully intended to sleep for a week, and to insist that Volio and Eriato do the same. 

In the end, Myron was waiting for them by the riverbank, bearing a lantern to help guide them towards him. It took a moment for them to realize as much as they approached, a moment in which Volio got them both down off his shoulders and shoved them behind him (only for Royari to shove her way back out, of course). But then he called out to them - “Hello, you three! We were getting worried!” - and at the sound of his voice, Royari felt a weight lift off their chest that they’d lived with for years. 

They hastened toward him without hesitation, after that, because if he saw no more reason to be quiet then neither did they. And they were happy to follow for a little while longer, as he led them over the last hill, into the makeshift camp, and into the enfolding embrace of a new and better life. 


End file.
